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Shot and produced by The Belmont Sessions.

A local Chicago band that I like to call Jason to the power of three + Jeremy (aka Big Science) is the band is filling my transition between the seasons with powerful guitar riffs, intriguing lyrical content, and a type of rock that goes beyond what was previously known (in my limited book of genres) as experimental Math-rock. Big Science’s music is very complex and perfectly compliments any train ride on the CTA through the city. A name drop of “Chicago” graces Jason #1(Hendrix)’s voice throughout their debut EP titled, Coast of Nowhere, reminding me that this prestigious album was the concept of four local musicians.

You may remember back in late August I plugged a show Big Science was playing at Schubas with other local Chicago acts Pet Lions & Empires. It is easy to say Big Science stole the show that night, and their live set left me with goosebumps and an intensity I had not felt from a band’s live show in a long time.

I invite you to make your own judgements about this album, but if you are on the college student budget that gives you the difficult choice between food or music, fear not my friend! Download Coast of Nowhere for FREE at their website, http://bigscienceband.com/. Check out the link at the bottom of the page, leave your info and not only will you get your free copy of Coast of Nowhere, but you may also gain a new stalker or two (and they all may be named Jason).

© Kady Dennell

If you’re bored tonight (Tuesday, September 1st) then you aren’t looking hard enough for something to do! Local Chicago band, The Window Theatre are playing a free show on Columbia College Chicago’s campus and they want to see YOU there!

We recently had the chance to sit down with these lovely southern boys and let me tell you, they had alot to say…

(FYW) So how far along in college are you and what is your major at Columbia College?

Erik: We’re all Audio Arts and Acoustics students, starting our second year at Columbia College. By credit, Joe and I are juniors, and Stephen is a sophomore.

(FYW)How did you guys meet (besides the obvious brotherly connection)?

Erik: Yeah well, Joe and I met in the womb. Good times. No, but actually – Stephen and I had Audio Production 1 together. Didn’t really get to know each other, but said hi occasionally. We all three ended up in the same Basic Audio Systems class. Got to talking about playing shows and starting a band, and it just kinda happened.

Joe: We officially became a band at a Dominicks in Wheaton.

(FYW)What made you realize you wanted to start playing together as a band?

Joe: While I was still doing solo shit, I got invited to play an acoustic set at the opening of the 916 building last year. Erik sang harmonies at that show. After the show, this guy Marcus Foster, who was the VP of SPB at the time told us to sign up for Manifest, cause he thought we had a pretty good shot. Right after that show, Erik and I decided we needed to officially become a band, come up with a band name, so we could sign up for Manifest under a band’s name instead of just my name.

Erik: didn’t help! It still said Joseph Duemig on the program.

(FYW)When and where was the biggest show you’ve played so far as the Window Theatre?

Joe: So there’s this pizza place in Austin that Erik and I used to play at a lot while we were in another band in high school. It has live music sometimes, but isn’t really much of a venue. We made it a venue. There aren’t any real music venues out in the suburbs where we lived in Austin. So we kinda made Rudino’s our go-to venue in the suburbs because we know the owner. We played a show there as The Window Theatre, and brought out about a hundred kids. It was a lot of fun.

(FYW)What is your motivation to keep playing as a band and who are some of the bands that have influenced the Window Theatre?

Erik: Yeah we’re all AA&A [audio, arts, and acoustics] students, but we really want to make the music thing a career. We went on tour this last summer (more like 3 regional mini-tours) and it was the most fun any of us have ever had. We love playing shows, we love meeting people, and this all sounds really cliche, but it’s the truth. As far as influence goes, we’re all pretty different on where we get inspiration for our music writing. Joe’s more into the ambient rock stuff like Sigur Ros and Aurora (an underground Seattle Band). I’m more a fan of pretty, melodic rock – think Death Cab’s “Crooked Teeth” or Barcelona’s song “It’s About Time.”

Stephen: Playing music is just what keeps me going. Very few things in my life make me feel whole and if I’m not jamming with a band, the circle that is my life just isn’t complete.

(FYW)What goals are you striving to reach as a band (certain venues, bands you’d like to play with, being on TV)?

Stephen: I’d love to play with Blink-182 or the Pillows- those are the dream gigs right there! But thinking realistically, I can totally see us playing with Nightmare Of You or The Honorary Title.

Joe: all of the above. Yeah, our friends in Company of Theives were telling us about how they were on Carson Daley’s late night show. I think that would just be epic to play on a late night talk show.

Erik: Honestly, our biggest goal is just to get to a point where we can support ourselves on only this. Obviously there’s a laundry list of smaller goals that will get us there. Playing a ton of shows, recording a new record, getting radio play, all of this is kinda working toward that.

(FYW)How have the opportunities at Columbia College helped your musical career so far?

Erik: Columbia College basically handed us our music career. We kinda came to this school knowing we wanted to start a band, but really had no idea of how to do it.

Joe: Yeah, up till now, the thanks for most of our success goes to Marcus Foster. He set us up with Mike Namoff, who recorded our EP. He encouraged us to try out for Manifest.

Erik: Yeah and all of that was really the big push we needed to get ourselves off the ground. Talking to other musicians at Columbia has helped us as well. Just building a network and learning from other bands’ stories. We even hooked up a show where a friend of mine at Columbia played a show with us down in Austin (he and his band are from Houston). They’re called The Black Horse Candidate.

(FYW)Any upcoming shows we should know about?

Joe: LOOPHOLE! Seriously, it’s gonna be off the chain.

Erik: Yeah. This event has some good people running the show, and the other bands playing sound pretty awesome. It’s a Weeks of Welcome event, so it’s gonna be a perfect opportunity to get freshmen involved in the Columbia music scene, and we feel really honored to be the sorta first look at that whole scene. Also, we’re playing a show out in Pritzker Park on September 24th at 4PM for an event with the Chicago Loop Alliance and Loop U. It’s like a back-to-school event. I think there’s gonna be free food and stuff. So it’s gonna be rockin.

(FYW)Anything else you’d like to add?

Joe: We want to meet every single person who reads this interview. So come out to a show, say hey, or if you live in Dwight Lofts – drop by 1607 anytime. We’ll have tea; we’ll talk.

Erik: Yeah we’re in this business to meet people. We don’t want to be that band who only interacts with people at shows. We want to know people and be able to call them our friends, not just our fans. We’re hosting some tea parties this semester, and possibly some dinner parties (Joe and I have been practicing our cooking skills this summer), so definitely find us and come talk to us for sure. We’ll hang out.

LOOPHOLE PRESENTS Pet Lions, Lightning Love, & The Window Theatre LIVE on September 1st at the Conaway Center (1104 S. Wabash) 7-10pm.

-AB

For as long as I can remember the Chicago music scene has been the birthplace for some noteworthy musical acts such as Naked Raygun, Alkaline Trio, Rise Against, Lupe Fisaco, and yes, Kanye West to name a few. Now it’s time for the next generation of Chicago bands to take the torch from the rockers and hip-hoppers that have been representing our fine city for so long.

Empires

This Wednesday Schubas is the place to be- three leading local Chicago bands, Empires, Big Science, & Pet Lions will be gracing their stage on August 26th.

Big Science

Although I may find myself a bit biased since Empires played at Columbia College this past Spring, and both Big Science & Pet Lions are very good friends of AEMMP Records, all three of these bands have solid records and EP’s that provide the credentials they need to take the role of the next noteworthy Chicago bands.

Pet Lions

Empire’s latest release, Howl, is available for free download here.

Big Science’s EP Coast of Nowhere is avaliable for a free download here.

And Pet Lions wants to share their new EP, Soft Right, with you if you sign-up for their mailing list found here.

So now you have no excuse to miss this show, download all three albums for FREE, learn the words to your favorite songs, and sing and dance the night away with me on Wednesday at Schubas!

-AB

Come out to the crossing at Damen/Lincoln/Irving Park to stuff your face with delicious food and listen to live entertainment that will be taking place all weekend at 2 different stages.  Ribfest begins Friday night and will run until Sunday, June 14th. The stages kick-off Friday with headliners Harlem Shakes and AEMMP Record’s Chompliation artist Office. Saturday is filled with live entertainment from noon to 10pm, and the Saturday night’s headliner is Indianapolis’s own Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. I am a huge fan of  Margot and I have seen their live show many times, so expect to see me in the crowd rocking out to their latest major-label double release, Animal and Not Animal. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s goes on at 9pm, but be sure to come out early and support the local Chicago bands who will be performing all weekend!

For the full line-up of artists playing Ribfest 2009, click here!

The most exciting news for AEMMP Records is that we will be invading the Daytrotter studios on July 7th with some of our Chompliation artists! Not familiar with the Daytrotter Sessions? Let me give you the background – The Horseshack in downtown Rock Island, IL  is where the magic happens for musicians traveling across the country on tour. For two hours musicians record 4 raw tracks that are either well-known or previously unreleased in the Daytrotter studio. They have minimal equipment, and a small crew that records everything happening in the room during the performance-  creating a new, unique turn on the songs that their fans know and love.

Daytrotter has currently recorded over 600 artists sessions since 2006.  After recording,  a group of illustrators work together to create illustrations for the website, and then the tracks are posted online at daytrotter.com for FREE. New sessions are released on the website daily, giving music fans an unlimited supply of new material to check out.  Sounds too good to be true right? It’s not! It’s also a great way to discover new artists since Daytrotter welcomes acts of all sizes and popularity to come and hangout at the studio.

So keep your eyes out for the AEMMP Records invasion! In the meantime, go educate yourself and listen to some great tunes. I recommend Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s session, or one of my random clicks when I discovered the Submarines, another great session to check out.

The music is waiting for you – check it out here.

Share your new artist discoveries, and keep an eye out for our upcoming recordings!